The Dark Warrior
by Hector Flores
Summary: As a friend of PoH he formed their guild to punish the wicked. Little did he know that what began as a thing for good, honor and justice would become something ad vile and evil as the thing they once made the guild to stop. It would take one day to help the people for his own mind to heal and for his heart to coup with such a dark realization.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

Author Note: If you want a story where Kirito is paired with Asuna or a harem this is not it, you have been forewarned.

Kirito had a great interest in both programming and electronics, he spend every bit he got of his allowance on making his own dream computer, he built it from scratch. He used to say it allowed him to upgrade and modify more easily that way.

The second great passion was swordsmanship and archery. He was the very best in his grandfather dojo, and was so good that at the age of ten he won the National kendo championship using his own dual wielding style. It was a great shock to him to find that he parents he once loved so much were actually his adopted parents.

This made him almost cut all of his time with his family to nothing, having own a beta player version of the new MMORG he bought an old model of the nerve gear in an online auction. The weird this was that the seller didn't collect the money after he found out who it was and made the mistake of sending him a new top of the line models.

Kirito took every moment he could to either invest in the stock market or plan out a nice residual income plan from himself. He needed to make sure he had an income so that one day he could say goodbye to his dying relatives. When he was not doing that he was playing Sword Art Online.

To him it was quite therapeutic actually since he took out all his frustrations on monsters and sometimes on other players that were dumb enough to either try to rob him, or try to kill him to make a name for themselves. His friend and old hunting buddy formed a guild. The guy was nice to his friends and horrible to those he consider his enemies, his online name was PoH.

During the month long Beta the two formed and made the others Beta fear their guild. They called it Laughing Coffins. They were quite happy to say that it was such fun killing the fools that dared to attacked them that they almost laughed as they defeated their enemies.

They two were good friends and had a few things in common. Kirito was an expert in potions, archery, dual wielding, detection, hiding and blacksmithing. He was dangerous with his swors but was lethal with a bow. The many potions he could make were everything between healing to status effect cures and poisons.

During the last day of the Beta they both got a nice tattoo of the Guild symbol. Kirito had it on his right hand and PoH on his left. It was almost as if saying the two worked together as hands of the same body.

The time for the last day of the Beta came and having done the impossible, both received as an award special weapons, armor and their own copy of the game once it was out for sale. They cleared all one hundred floors and did so while fighting against most of the other beta's that tried to stop them from being the ones to clear it.

On the last day the two friends decided to have a duel, whoever won the duel would be the leader of the new Laughing Coffins guild in the game and would decide what the new guild goals were going to be. The duel was fought many times, but it always came out a draw. It seems having spent so much time fighting side by side made them very familiar with each other's style of combat.

In the end it was decided that PoH would be the leader of the new group. Kirito wished his old friend the best as he left the guild to avoid any unpleasantness about the rumors that would say he threw the fight either because of the other being his friend or cowardice. "You know I could care less what they say in rumors, Kirito. It simply will not be the same without you."

Kirito looked at him and smiled, "You might not bother with the rumors, but I am liable to beat those that speak them for the sheer principle of it. You do not need that as soon as you remake the guild." PoH laughed as he heard his friend.

"How about instead you stay in the shadows and if you think we are doing wrong? That we no longer are the sword of the weak and shield of the meek. You will be there to stop us or see that we face justice." Kirito laughed as his friend said that, "But don't complain then if a whole bunch of your people lose experience, items and worse. You asked my friend."

"If I asked is because as always I trust in your judgement. Be sure that I will look after your squad in your absence. I know that you worry about the foolishness both Johnny and Xaxa would get involved in if they are left unsupervised. " He said his farewell to his old friend as the timer came to end the Beta and he logged off.

It was during the days that he spent working on his investment plan and avoiding his so called family that he began to read more and more into his own origins. He began to look and look for any traces of his birth parents. He found his mother died in child labor, which was weird since thanks to today's medical technology that was unheard of.

It took him a year to find out he did not even have a birth certificate since his parents were never married, it was likely that his father was never even told of his birth in the first place. Kazuto could not believe he was the product of a one night stand and nothing more. He gave up looking for the supposed identity of his father.

After one year of waiting and continue to practice Kendo, he defended his title in the next championship. His opponent for the fight believed she would have it easy since he was her brother. She was sadly mistaken as it took her only two minutes to disarm her and defeat her.

"Brother you could seriously injured someone if you strike so hard... " He looked at her and smiled," Your pride would be more injured if I did not take you seriously and this is for my title.. I must do what I can to protect it. I am sure if the roles were switched you would have done the same. "

As they walked home they saw a package waiting for him, " This means the game will be out soon, finally I can do something fun for a change. " Suguha complained that he would now spend all this free time playing the blasted game and not with his family. He simply said that a little fun and relaxation was good for him.

" So is training at the family dojo no fun? " Suguha asked as he opened the door. " You know very well grandfather hates it when we goof around, he always has to remind you kendo is serious business. If you took things more seriously you could have avoided that attack and even turned it against me. "

Kazuto went inside and opened the package in a hurry as to be back in the castle as soon as possible. He saw a letter addressed to him by the inventor he always admired Akihiko Kanata. He opened the letter and he wished for the first time that he had not open it. In the letter he congratulated him on clearing the final level during the Beta.

To be more specific, the letter read as follows, _'To my missing son Kazuto: I can not tell you how proud you made me when you finished the last floor of the castle. I was so proud that my flesh and blood was able to do what no one else had done. Very well done. If you are wondering why I gave you this I guess there is a little explanation is needed. '_

_' I met your mother during my days as I tried to develop the technology for the nerve gear. We fell in love and the day we were supposed to marry, her parents took her away and I was unable to find her. Apparently, she was pregnant and so your grandparents gave you away to an orphanage. The sadness of losing first me and then you caused your mother to die. '_

_' It was probably your grandfather who told her that I had died and that she died during childbirth. I am sorry that I could not tell you this in person, but I am sure one day we will meet and we may discuss it then, your name is Kazuto Kayaba. I do hope that one day you will let me treat you as you are, my son. Signed Akihiko Kayaba. '_

Kazuto could hardly believe it, the man he had admired so much, was none other than this own father, and when he looked for a birth certificate he found it when he looked for the name Kazuto Kayaba. It appears that his so-called father made the effort to make it up to him by making sure he was registered as such.

He placed the letter inside his desk drawer and did not bother looking at the picture that was inside the envelope. He placed the cartridge inside the machine and he placed the nerve gear on his head and started the game. He was happy to see that he had everything from the Beta, all his stats and a new one he had single swords skills mastered. It must have been a skill he mastered without him noticing before. His armor was much like you would expect, a black mythril armor with a black hood.

He had his weapons he won from clearing the events and he looked beneath the gauntlets and he saw he still had the guild tattoo on his right hand. He decided to get in some exercise as he walked through the city of beginnings, greeting the npcs that became friends with during the Beta.

Klein was surprised as he saw the NPC and him chatting as if they were friends for a long time. He decided to follow him till he missed him from his sight. He lost him from view completely. He began to walk back till he felt a sword under his chin. "Mind telling me why are you following me around?"

"Relax, I am new to this game and I figured that since you were a Beta you could show me the ropes. The name is Klein by the way. Could you please teach me to play this game?" Kirito relaxed and told him that he should have shouted or waved at him, he only made himself suspicious when he started to sneak around after him.

"With that face of yours, who wouldn't think you were a bandit out to steal from me? " Klein told him he just wanted to learn how to play and if he did, he might even be able to help him out later on." So sure grab your sword and follow me. " Klein jumped at the chance to follow him to the nearby monster fields.

" First and foremost let's see you fight that boar." Klein tried his best but only ended up upsetting the boar and ended up kicking him on the family jewels and walking off. "Why are you on the ground for? It does not even hurt." Klein stopped when he realized this. "I guess you are right, but man activating these skills is tough.."

Kirito told him he needed only to begin the initial motion and wait till he saw his blade glow and when he did he let go of that position and the system would make sure it actually hit. "Yea, easy for you to say but how about a lesson rather than an example." Kirito picked up a small stone and did the initial movements for the most basic attack.

Klein saw the stone glow and when he let go of the position the stone when flying and hit the right ass cheek on the boar that had kicked Klein and furious it began charging at Kirito. Using his sword he kept the boar occupied. "Come on do as I did, and just let the skill go when the sword vibrates. "

Klein did as he was shown and sure enough, he killed the boar. "Alright, I guess that is how you do it, but why did I get so little money and experience?" Kirito looked at him and smiled. "Boars in this game are like the slimes in other RPGs you know it is probably the weaker monster there is." Klein had to admit he had though it was a mid-level boss, not the weakest monster ever. "So you feel like clearing a few more of these with me?" Kirito agreed that he would help him out.

As the two relaxed after fighting so many monsters and Klein gaining a few levels. He looked down at the setting sun. "I still can't believe we are inside a game, this place is amazing." Kirito smiled at him as he looked at his sword. "This place is a place where your sword can take you to amazing adventures and fight in great battles."

"I have to admit I feel more alive here than any other place.. I guess we should part ways, the name is Kirito I guess you need to do some other things. " Klein and Kirito exchanged addresses and he smiled." You bet, I have a pizza coming, with some nice ginger ale and some side dishes. "

" Sound nice, but when is the food supposed to get there? Cause it's seven thirty already. " Klein looked at the clock and could not believe it. He had two whole minutes to log out and put on something to get this food from the delivery. He looked at the menu and found something missing.

"Kirito is there any way to log out besides the menu option? " Kirito looked at him and flat out said no." You can't do voice commands, you can't remove the nerve gear off your own head, and you can't just wait for the thing to power off either.. 80% of the weight of it is the battery.. It can hold power for a solid week before it even needs recharging. "

"But someone else could remove it right? You live with other people?" Klein was really pulling at straws here... "Yea, I got family but something tells me this is no bug. If this was a bug this big they would forcefully log us all off to fix it. It could mean the end of an entire genre of games if they don't fix it.."

Klein looked at him and started to realize their is something more going on with the missing option. "Game Master, why don't we try a GM then?" Kirito again looked at him with a serious look on his face. "The GM would only know the game program if he worked for the developer. Most GM are also players who are volunteers from the Beta. I can tell you this much that bunch did not learn that much in the Beta."

"Speaking of which how far did you get while on doing the Beta? " Klein smiled as he asked."What so you mean? Me and my friend cleared the entire thing. " Klein nearly fell over when he heard that. "You and your friend cleared 100 levels in a month.. You have got to be kidding me. What level are you right now?" Kirito told him 99, he even told him that in their party he should be able to see the number on the right hand corner of his name tag.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

Just ask Kirito was explaining that they both heard a town bell and in a flash of light he was transported to the main Plaza in the town of beginnings. "A forceful transport, something must be going to happen for this to happen to every player around." Klein touched his shoulder and told him to look up.

The sky was flashing red and something was dripping down from the bottom of the floor of the next level, it was thick, the red liquid forming a sort of large pool. Kirito could not get the idea that it sort of reminded him of blood. The large pool began to form the very image of the GM except he had no face.

In the Beta, the GM either looked like a wizard or a kindly older lady with glasses. This GM had no face at all. Just as he began thinking this he heard a voice that almost felt like it was familiar. "Welcome, players to my world. I am Akihiko Kayaba and I am the creator of this world. You are no doubt wondering why is the logout button missing or if this is a bug."

"I have come to put your mind at ease and tell you this is no bug. Sword Art Online was never designed to have the button, to begin with. I created this place so that you would feel and live in this my world. I must, therefore, warn you that should your life points reach zero, you will die and there is no resurrection facilities. "

" The moment your nerve gear senses this the nerve gear will transmit a powerful signal destroying your brain in the outside world. If someone tries to remove your Nerve Gear before this castle is cleared it will also trigger the brain destruction sequence. I have sent this information to every single mass media format. Sadly 150 people did not believe me and have died as shown in this news footage. "

Klein was screaming like the rest saying that it was impossible, that it was complete and utter bullshit." Actually, Klein, it is possible. There is an appliance that works on the same signals as the nerve gear, it's a microwave oven. If you placed an egg and put it with enough signal straight it would cook from the inside. Just like this supposed brain destruction sequence will cook the brains of the people who have their nerve gear removed or die here. "

" Kirito this makes no sense why would he make this possible only to trap the first 10,000 players in something that could be called a death game? It makes no sense at all. " As if Akihiko these very statements from multiple players he decided to continue his speech.

" Right now you are wondering why would I the creator of the Nerve Gear and of SAO would do this? My sole goal was to create the world where a player could experience it as if it indeed was real, a world without the limitations of other fake world's, the world that could be sensed through all the five senses and see that it was indeed alive. "

" To make you more assured that this is real I have placed a gift for you all in your inventory. " Kirito looked and found it was a mirror and when he saw himself, he saw his actual face and with a blinding light every player began to change into what they looked like in the real world." How is this even possible? How could the nerve gear know what we actually look like? "

" Klein it is because of the calibration sequence we did as soon as we first turned on the nerve gear and our face would have been scanned by the nerve gear. He is doing this to make the realize that he is telling the truth. Look it looks like he was not done with his speech.

" I have given you the chance to live in my world. As for your bodies you do not need to worry, medical teams have been sent to your homes and your bodies will be taken care off, so you can relax. All you need to concentrate on is to clear all 100 floors of this castle. When the final floor boss is defeated all players who still live will be automatically logged out. "

" This concluded the tutorial for Sword Art Online, and once again I say to you welcome to my world. " The figure began to turn to gas and disappear from where it first appeared. Kirito knew better than to wait for the others to collect their thoughts. He looked at Klein."Do not say anything and follow me. "

Klein followed him to a secluded space so they could talk." Look Klein in an MMO like this resources are finite. We need to leave this town right now and get to the next one, the fields will be cleared out and if we want to be strong enough to survive we need to move."

Klein looked at the plazas he was sure that his friends were out there. "Look, man, my friends are out there. I can't just abandon them." Klein looked really concerned for them. "Fine, do you have them on your list at least, or a whistle something to get them to gather. The other thing is this, they may be your friends but they are nothing to me. So they better listen or it will be their fault they died."

Klein did not like the sounds of it but he knew he was serious about what he was talking about. In the end, they gathered his friends and a blue haired girl, and a brown haired girl they both looked quite scared. The blue haired mace user turned out her name was Sachi, The brown haired girl was called Asuna. She liked to use a rapier.

Kirito took point and Klein guarded the rear as the group marched through the fields. Kirito switched his sword to a bow and began picking off monsters as they came close to them. Good thing this game had an auto loot option. Sachi saw him fire arrow after arrow and kept them safe from monsters as they walked the path to a nearby village.

Asuna was amazed at the speed of his attacks. She then realized he was actually holding more than one arrow at a time. As soon as he fired one he was getting the other ready. When she looked at his name tag she was even more shocked. His level was 99 which means every single monster he killed the party was getting all the experience points and he was not getting anything at all.

Asuna was almost in awe as she saw him eliminate one monster after the next. The group finally made it to the next town and each had gained five levels in the trip. The first thing that struck them as off was that Kirito went and talked to an NPC like he was an old friend. The NPC did as well, it caught them by surprise that he was so friendly to these nine players characters.

"So Kirito will you be needing something? Ever since you saved my kid, you know you will always be welcomed in our town. " Kirito smiled and thanked him for his consideration." Actually, there are a few things I need to know about. Is the old floor boss still in the same cave? Or did he finally decide to move somewhere more comfortable? "

The guy began to laugh as he heard Kirito say that." You know how stubborn he is, he insists that he does not like to live in crowded places. I think he does not move because he wants a rematch with you, and so you could find him. I swear it would make our lives a lot easier if he did. "

Kirito laughed seeing that the old guy was as stubborn as he remembered." That old goat will never change, even if the castle came crashing down. Honestly, if he did I would say it was a sign of the end days. Do you know if my old house is still there? I know some people were threatening to burn it down to make it farmland. "

The guy nodded his head," Indeed a few punks did damage your house a few months ago, but don't you worry it was repaired and a few more rooms added by the same punks, it was their parent's punishment after all. "

"You would think they would not want to anger one of the two people that could clear this entire floor of monsters and don't even be tired after doing it." The guy laughed as he indeed felt the same way. "In their defense they are teenagers, they probably did it because of a stupid dare or to impress their girlfriends."

Asuna decided to see what they were talking about. "Kirito would you mind telling me what is so interesting that you two are talking about?" Kirito looked at her and smiled. "Just the state of my house, I was asking my friend here if it was still standing."

"You own a house and you had us stay in an Inn? " Kirito could not get away from answering that question. His friend decided to correct her." No, he does not own a house, he owns 15 houses in the entire castle. I happen to be the mayor of this town so he would know the status of his properties fastest with my help. "

" If he has so many properties what does Kirito do with most of them? He can't live in only one at a time. " The guy told her he actually rents most of them to other people. He makes a small fortune yearly and was one of the most affluent people in the castle. "What else would you expect from the Son of the Red King?"

"The Red King as in the leader of this world? Akihiko Kayaba called you his son in this game? What kind of a man traps his own son in this death game? I would never do this to my own child. If he considers you his son can't you ask him to stop this craziness and let all the players log out? This is a game it is not supposed to end the lives of players. "

" Afraid not, he said he would only do that if we defeated him and by the looks of it, he is on the top floor. Honestly, he thinks this is a real world, and so he will treat it as such. You don't have resurrection stations in the other world, and in combat, you can lose your life. I don't worry so much about the monsters, with good training and preparation they are no danger. "

" What I worry about most is if the other players start turning psycho on us and start killing players... I could think of it happening in two ways. If people feel fear for their lives they will try to do anything to beat this games no matter how reckless, or the death count would make the developers of the game look for a way to take control away from him and log us all out, just from fear of the Civil lawsuits that as sure to be in their future. "

Asuna looked a bit disturbed that he could already see this potential danger and she was oblivious to it till he actually mentioned it. " So what do you think we should do? I for one say we need to be organized a small group like ours could officially register as a guild. If we make a big enough name for ourselves, we could from alliances with another guilds."

"Sounds good, but the thing I want to establish is the training regiment and the way we should deal with loot drops. I think we need to also find eventually an info broker and a blacksmith. We need to have a handle on the info and be able to make our own gear. Buying it would prove not so cost efficient in the long run. "

Kirito smiled and looked at his friend." As for the info broker, I think I know just the person we need. I think she might be in the town of beginnings. She is called Argo, the rat. She was instrumental when I was here during the Beta. As for the blacksmith, I still don't have a clue. I only know the regular blacksmiths and they would never sign on with a guild. "

Asuna looked a bit confused." Why would you think that they would refuse? Your friend is willing to help you, why not them? " the man in question decided to answer that question." Because it would cut their customer base, they are blacksmiths and therefore they treat it as a business. To ally with a guild it leaves the chance of either making customers take their business somewhere else for several reasons. "

" As a guild, you will no doubt make enemies, or make people jealous of you. If the blacksmith is known to be the blacksmith for your guild a rival guild could attack his customers or himself. No businessman would leave himself open to such a risk. So, in short, the only people that will sign up and other people like yourselves. I think you call them players. "

" By the way, I am Asuna and you are? " the man realized he actually never introduced himself." You may call Corvos, it is a pleasure to meet you Asuna any friend of Kirito the hawk is a friend of mine." Asuna asked him why he called him the hawk. "It is a title given to the best archers in this castle. He never misses a single shot and is as observant as a hawk. So much like the infamous Argo is called by the title the rat, Kirito is called by the title the hawk."

"Thank you for the explanation but could I bother you with another question? " Corvos said it was no trouble at all." Do you know who can we talk to about registering a guild? " Corvos laughed as he heard the question." Why I can take care of that in an instant I only need you to fill out his forms and have them signed by the members. I will take the fee and handle the rest it should take you longer to fill the forms than for me to filled them. "

Asuna took the forms and walked toward the meeting place for their group. She did not want to wait so she asked Kirito to sign the form before she left. " Your friend seems like quite the polite and driven woman Kirito, this could be a sign that you finally need to hang up your bachelor status and settle down."

Kirito smiled at him, "Silveria would kill me if I did something like that. You know as well as I do that she has made it perfectly clear if I were to marry anyone it would have to be someone she approves. My mother can be quite stubborn in this matters, and she would never allow me to marry anyone who is weaker than herself. "

Corvos laughed as he saw his friend leave the building." It is this very reason why you could not marry the one woman who is the mother of your own child. You ever wondered what ever happened to your sweet daughter Yui and Hild? I know you worry about them so I can tell you they are both living in the central town on the 50th floor. You might want to see them sometime in the future. "


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

The entire group agreed that since Kirito was the most experienced of them that he should be the guild leader and his first decision was to propose a name for their guild. Three names were suggested and in the end, they chose the name of the Black Hawks guild. Each had the emblem on the guild on their armor a black hawk swooping down on an unseen prey.

"Now we work together to raise our level to level ten and then we take the fight to the floor boss, once we start this we fight till we beat the last boss the Red King himself. " They group worked hard and it only took them a week of hunting and killing monsters to achieve their goal of reaching level ten.

They also learned the wisdom in wanting to have a guild blacksmith, Kirito could make basic improvements on armor or create some but he was alone in this so he had quite a lot of armor and weapons to make, but a true master blacksmith would make them at a much higher quality and faster.

They realized that they needed someone to be their guild's master blacksmith. They simply could not overwork Kirito like this for too long, he had been training the other members of the new guild training regiment and on top of that make new gear from the many monster drops they obtained. It simply did not feel fair have him do so much.

It took them a week before they managed to reach their goal and for Kirito to finish the gear another week but it was well worth it. Every member was given the complete set of equipment and they loved how easy it was for them to use their weapons. It seems practice indeed made them better fighters.

As the group reached the location of the floor boss they looked at Kirito and listened closely to his words. "I don't want a single of you to take a risk of dying on me, we will separate into two teams, one with me and the other will go with Asuna, we have potions I made that will heal you if you reach the yellow range tell us. No need for foolish bravado, everyone makes it out of this alive. "

The door opened and the massive beast that was the floor boss appeared as the room began to be more visible thanks to the torches. The Kobold King and his merry band of guards. Kirito had a hard time not laughing as the Kobold King saw him and glared at him almost like he would never expect him to appear before him again.

"Oh, come on this any way to greet an old friend. You really have gotten a lot more grumpy than I remembered you old goat. " Every member of the guild could not believe what they just heard their guild leader said, here he was telling them not to die, and what does he do when he first sees the floor boss, piss him off.

At the time the players that got sick of waiting for someone to kill the floor boss decided to hold the first-ever strategy meeting to form a plan on how to deal with the first-floor boss. "I like to welcome you all and my name is Diabel, and my job is a knight." someone was heard screaming there was no job system in this game.

"We are here gathered to have our first strategy meeting to defeat the first-floor boss. I have a fresh guide book with the recent location and information about the Kobold King. " A man stood up and jumped on the platform where Diabel was giving his little speech." All that is well and good but first, we need to have a little bit of justice, I say that there are people here that need to pay for their greedy backstabbing ways. "

" You know who I am talking about, the greedy, heartless backstabbing bastards that were here during the Beta. As soon as the big scene in the Plaza was over these bastards took all the best quests and cleared off all the best plots of land of monsters and items. I say before we begin we need to make these bastards pay for abandoning us to our own luck. You want to be in our team then pay us for your betrayal. "

This made several people look rather uncomfortable, a big ax-wielding black man stood up," So you want the Beta's to give us all their equipment, items, and money. Is that what I am hearing?" Kibaou did not like the sound of his voice. "Yea, that is what I am saying. These betas left us to die and now they want to be in our parties, no way, if they want to join us they need to pay something to make up for their betrayal if they want us to trust them again."

Kirito and Asuna took care of the floor boss and they would throw a potion bottle to those that were low in health as they fought and keep the guards busy. Kirito took his bow first and made the big monster lose his grip on his big ax, and then shattered the shield on the other arm.

Asuna using her rapier slashed his legs something awful and made him move around slower than when they started. Kirito switched to his sword and in an almost dance around the boss they both managed to slash, slashed and cut the boss till Asuna was the one to receive the kill bonus, a very nice rapier called the flash rapier one that would allow the wielder to move very fast. "Congratulations Asuna, put that weapon to good use on the next floor."

"Thank you for letting me have the final strike Kirito. " The guild was amazed to see him give up the chance to have a great weapon and then they remembered that he actually wanted not a single member dying. When they realized this it made sense.

" We fought together and we are still here, teamwork and loyalty will make it easier for us to survive. Now come on we fought together so we claim the honor of unlocking the way to the next floor together. All for one and One for all. "

Sachi was laughing as she heard him say that famous motto. During the meeting Agil, the ax wielder managed to get Kibaou to realize he was not going to be able to con betas and get some free gear, items, and money. As the meeting began to discuss the floor boss an announcement was heard across the entire floor. "First-floor boss cleared by the Black Hawks Guild, the path to the second floor now open. I repeat First-floor boss the Kobold King has been defeated by the Black Hawks Guild."

Diabel and the others could hardly believe what they were hearing. "So while we sat here trying to make up our minds on how to kill the first-floor boss, some unknown guild went ahead and beat the first-floor boss on their own." Kibaou took the chance to put down the Betas some more.

"See, this is what I was talking about. Hundreds of us die and just now these cheating betas decide to kill the first-floor boss to steal our thunder and because probably some friend of theirs told these Betas that we were getting ready to do it ourselves. These Beaters should be taken to the prison in Iron Palace and thrown in bare buck naked and throw away the key. "

Agil got up again and this time, he grabbed Kibaou by the head and pulled him up till he was looking at his eyes." You can just drop it you miserable leech. I know what you really want, we all do. We worked for our money and so did the Betas, you ain't getting a thing from us, they had the guts to do what we had to make a meeting to even begin to have the guts to think of doing what they did. "

Agil got up and began to walk away from the meeting place. Diabel decided to ask him where was he headed." I think it should be obvious, these Black Hawks have the guts and the nerve to try and clear a floor boss on their own, it should be pretty obvious where I am going, I am going to find them and join that guild. They seem to be the only guild around that have the right mindset. "

There seem to be quite a few people that agreed with him has they began to follow him." How are you going to even find him? It's not like you are a friend of this bunch of showoffs." Agil smiled and walked up to him. "Even if he wasn't, Argo the Rat would find him anywhere. He is on my friend list from Beta. This guy was not only my friend but my most loyal customer. I know exactly where he is going to be."

Kibaou jumped when he said that and accused him of being a Beta, Agil smiled and simply said as he walked away that he never denied being one in the first place. PoH was watching all this exchange from the shadows and that was the day Kibaou became a permanent member of Laughing Coffin, PoH had no clue what a horrible mistake was recruiting this particular creep.

The second floor was pretty much like the first except for tougher monsters but thanks to the training regiment they had the activity of clearing out monster fields to perfection. Practice did make them a whole lot more efficient and they trained like there was no tomorrow, because if they did not win a fight there would be no tomorrow at all. Kirito kept helping out the members and with his blacksmith duties. He maintained the gear of their entire guild. Asuna had the bright idea of actually selling off some of their old gear in favor of making new equipment from the drops of the new higher level monsters.

Kirito just accepted that his blacksmithing hammer was going to get a real workout if she was going to do this for all the floors till they reached the throne room. The only bad thing was that every item that he made would have his name registered as the maker. This made him quite famous in blacksmithing circles and some of the specialized guilds tried to recruit him.

The worst of the recruiters was a woman from a guild he never even heard off before. "For the last time Lizbeth, I will not abandon my guild to join yours. I will help my guild to the bitter end." Lizbeth was not too happy to hear her tenth rejection. "A blacksmith of your caliber is wasted in a combat unit, you could improve your skill so much more if you only concentrated on your forge and stop wasting time fighting monsters."

Kirito was having a really tough time with his person, "I use the weapons I make, how can you just call yourself a blacksmith if you don't even know how each weapon feels in your own hand? Stop trying to recruit me already, I am going to defeat the last floor boss and free everyone from this death game."

Lizbeth had to admire his dedication to his goal and his guild." Someone else can do that, why do you have to risk your life when you can live a fairly comfortable and safe life while you wait for someone else to clear this game. " Kirito had enough he was not going to put up with this anymore.

"This is not a game it is life and if you think you can make it through life taking it easy, girl you are in for a major disappointment. I will keep my guild members safe, beat the final floor boss, and do so with my two hands. You can hide all you want, as I get to higher floors I will make things that will make yours look like junk. "

Lizbeth did not like the sound of that last part." Oh, no you did not just call my crafted items junk. I think a blacksmithing challenge is in order to show you how wrong you are. " Kirito did not even looked worried and demanded she named the terms of the challenge and quit wasting his time.

" We both make a sword, the one that shatters the other's sword gets to make a single demand and the loser must accept it. " The two went to a local forge and he let her make the sword first, he merely sat down and started cleaning his materials. She finished quickly as to show off her speed and skill.

Kirito took his time and made a sword just like the one she made but it looked a whole lot different. She had no clue that his sword was made from materials dropped on the second floor.

He tossed her the sword and sat down. Lizbeth was in for a shock alright. She struck her sword and her sword shattered into a million pieces and disappeared. "So you win, what is your request."

Kirito got up and sent her an invitation to join the Black Hawks. "The same one you were going to make, you join my guild and stop wasting time. I will work you to the bone if I have to but we are beating the last boss and we are getting out of this death game."

Lizbeth was not too happy about leaving her guild and her guild leader was even less happy to let her go. When he got the news he used the teleport and went towards the town Kirito and his guild were. Out of sheer bad luck, he was having lunch when he found him the following day. Hiro looked mad as all hell, Lizbeth was his best blacksmith losing her would seriously hurt his profit margin.

"So you are the crook that cheats to steal my best blacksmith. Why am I not surprised? I should have expected this from a lousy beater like you. I challenge you to a duel little beater, I am the main supplier of gear and weapons for laughing coffin. You will not be able to beat me punk. "

He paid for his meal and thanked the waitress for the wonderful meal." Will you stop flirting with the bimbo waitress and let's go. I don't have all day to waste on you. " Kirito walked really fast to catch up to him and he punched Hiro on his stomach. " Apologize idiot or kiss eating solid food goodbye. "

Hiro saw that he was not kidding so he did apologize to the nice waitress and she went on to her usual rounds. He followed Kirito to the Plaza, "Health reduction and no limit on time. Loser gives the winner half of his money and never bothers the winner again do you accept?"

Hiro laughed really loud and attracted the attention of a lot of people around the Plaza. " You bet I do. I will buy a better hammer and upgrade my forge with your money when I get done with you punk."

The counter began to count down and Kirito got hold of his two swords. "Well I hope you are not a deadbeat as much as you look it, but either way, it's showtime." Kirito evaded every single strike and when Hiro finally tripped on his own feet Kirito slashed him on his chest cutting his health to one-third.

He was declared the winner and Hiro gave him half his money to him and asked one question before he turned to walk away from him in shame. "just what level are you kid?" Kirito did not bother looking at him and as he walked away he only said one thing. "99." Every player was left speechless as they saw Kirito walk away from the guy he just defeated.


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

PoH just got word from one of his most dedicated spies, Kibaou was tasked with making Betas look like absolute scum, it didn't matter that he was one himself no one would dare tell the knife wielder that he was scum and live to tell the tale. The real purpose is to sow chaos and fear into the hearts of the players.

He had the crazy idea that if the death toll got high enough the company that made the game would find a way to stop and log every remaining player out from fear of the monetary losses from the civil lawsuits from the parents and loved ones of the players who died. Kibaou felt that if he accomplished that he would be even more famous and he would be able to take the leadership away from the knife weirdo.

Among those in Laughing Coffins two members liked to read the newspaper for any news regarding a player they both knew from the Beta. The player had been their mentor and most trusted friend alongside their current leader. "Can you believe it? Kirito managed to clear two floor bosses and do so before the other players had a clue. I thought that he had gone soft, guess I was wrong Xaxa."

The masked man looked at his brother and smiled an almost manic smile. "Silent Blade Kirito going soft? You should know better than that Johnny. He was our mentor we learned our basic skills thanks to him. What surprised me is that he did not rejoin the guild. I wonder why he even went as far as to make a legit guild. What could have happened to upset him that much? "

PoH decided to tell the two players the reason as he heard most of the conversation while sitting nearby. " The reason is I tried to register him as guild leader when he lost his duel with me for the leadership of the guild. If his equipment had been as good as mine he would have won. But you know how honorable he is, had he used the bow I would be defeated before I could move an inch with that skill of his. "

They called him the silent blade because Kirito was a master of the silent killing method and because unlike most arrows his arrow tips were actual blades. Most used the bone of monsters and even rock Kirito made the tip as sharp as a sword and with a cutting edge.

"He would not accept that I would have lost even I knew if he used the Rainstorm of the end I would have no chance at winning that duel. Did you two ever see him use that skill? It is the most impressive and frightening thing I ever saw. 700 poisoned arrows in less than three seconds. Nothing can survive it, not even me. "

Johnny still believed that if they talked with him he would return. Xaxa knew better than that. " Johnny he taught us to live by the knight's code. To be the sword of the weak and the shield of the meek. I know you mean well and I would be happy to live like that again, but our guild is not the same one he helped make. This is a guild of murderers and you know he will never accept the way our guild changed. "

Johnny wished it was not true but his heart knew the truth. Kirito would never accept the way they were and he would go as far as to say that they had become the very scum that they formed the guild to protect others from." I know Xaxa, but he was our mentor. I just don't like the idea of one day having to fight him. PoH says he himself could be killed by him. "

Kirito was working hard to make new weapons for those of his guild. The guild members did their share by pushing themselves during their training. He always reminded them that they should take their time and not to get over their limits. The two blacksmiths did wonders as he worked on weapons Lizbeth worked on armor.

It was a quiet day and the only noise was of them working on respective pieces. He was working on a battleaxe for Agil and she was working on the armor plating of a shield for Diabel. The guild was only leveling and hunting for materials for the new gear. Once that was complete they would hit the third boss hard.

As to the way Kirito was he was particularly angry as he kept hearing about the murder guild as other players called it, he was even more angry when he heard the name of the guild, so much so that he hit the Lance he was working so hard it shattered. The name he heard had been one that he wished it was not them, laughing coffins.

'What in the hell is PoH thinking the guild we made was supposed to keep the peace and order while saving innocent people from the very thing he is doing. ' Lizbeth saw him hitting the metal so hard that pieces of the metal came off and struck him.

"Kirito, KIRITO. WOULD YOU KINDLY GO OUTSIDE AND COOL OFF BEFORE YOU WRECK THE ONLY FORGE WE GOT! " Kirito did not answer he placed the hammer on the table and he walked outside and sat down in front of a tree." This has got to be the worst news I have ever received. "

He took his bow and decided to walk towards a field of particularly nasty and tough monsters. The field had been said that no normal player could even hope of defeating. In fact a betting pool was established about this very field. If a player managed to clear it and kill all the monsters they would get the entire load of cash and get to keep all drop items.

Kirito was still angry when he got there. He looked like he was not even that focused as he kept muttering something in a low voice. He pointed his bow to the sky and with an arrow ready he let it start the sequence for his most deadly skill. The rainstorm of the end and it took every player by surprise as each of the monsters they were going to try and kill was hit by several arrows.

They were disappointed since they hoped to at least get some materials from a few of them. When friends began to ask if their monsters also were hit by what looked like bladed arrows, the magnitude of the attack was understood and any desire of trying to find the person who launched the attack stopped.

The players did the numbers and in about five seconds the field that was considered impossible to clear was monster free. It would take a solid week for the monsters to generate again. "The strange thing is whoever shot those arrows did not hit a single player." The only way for them to know who shot those arrows was looking up the betting pool recipient back in the Plaza where the info brokers usually were.

The info brokers made some good money as they told the players willing to pay the fee that the winner of that betting pool had been none other than Kirito, Guild master of the Black Hawks Guild. The number of people that looked for a recruiter of that guild doubled that day. "Don't bother looking for a recruiter." Argo told them.

"If the Black Hawks want you to join Kirito himself will find you. They don't take applications and they don't recruit. You want to be part of the guild, work had and sharpen you skills, the Black Hawks don't waste time with recruiting skill is the only thing that determines if you are one of them. "

The players all overheard the news of that long believed invincible field was cleared with a single player using a single bow and using a single attack. Over 50 monsters killed in less than ten seconds and didn't even hit a single player after shooting over a hundred arrows. It was as if he could instinctively know where his targets were.

Kirito sometimes went to do this every time his frustration or anger got to be too much for him to stand. The Rainstorm of the end was a skill born when he was a Beta and he had to defeat a turtle like monster on the 90th floor. The monster simply was impossible to defeat since whenever he suffered damage he would go into his shell and inside his shell he would recover from the damage.

The only solution was for him to hit through the opening of the monsters shell as many times as he could. By the end he defeated the monster but has to be able to streamline a series of shots and thus the Rainstorm of the end was created. Somewhere Kayaba learned of this skill and so he programmed it into the game. The requirements to learn the skill were out of this world.

The skill was called the streamline combo skill. It required a person to be the strongest, quickest and master both hiding and detection skills. The skill could also be used with a handheld weapon but then it was called the dance of the end. A devastating 700 hit combo that was so ruthless, so vicious that it had no defense that could resist it.

Kirito felt better and had enough materials for the rest of the weapons he needed to make. Lizbeth looked upset thinking that he left her to do all the work and he went to have fun somewhere. "You got a lot of nerve, Kirito you can't just drop whatever you are doing and go and I have some fun. We have a responsibility with the rest of the guild."

Kirito waited for her to catch her breath from her little lecture. "I actually went to get more materials so I could finish the weapons. I ran out, and I did not want to wait for the members to come and deliver the things to the Forge. I will be done with my part tonight, can you say the same? Are you going to be able to finish all that armor by tonight? "

Lizbeth had to be honest and told him no she would not. There were more pieces that fell under the category of armor than weapons but she knew better than to use that excuse." Ok, I admit it, I was worried about you. If you wanted to go hunt for materials you could at least ask me. I could help you. "

Kirito did not bother answering her, he went to work on his weapons and in the span of three hours he was done with all the new weapons have needed to make. He was about to go towards the sleeping quarters when he felt a hand touch him on the shoulder. "Need something Lizbeth?" Lizbeth looked embarrassed and she asked for his help with the armor.

The two divided the remaining monster drop items and they began to work till early in the morning. They got done as the sun began to shine through the window on the sidewall of the Forge. "I guess that is the final piece thanks a lot Kirito." She was amazed at the quality he made the weapons.

Kirito went to the common room of the guild and when he walked towards a rather comfy looking couch he fell on it and began to snore as he fell asleep. The rest of the guild looked surprised as they saw their typically stoic leader sleeping on a couch. "Why is it that he fell asleep like that?" Klein asked and saw Lizbeth post on the guild board that the new gear was ready for pick up.

"Guess that answers that question, our leader overworked himself yet again to finish our gear. Man even with Lizbeth's help he still is doing this. I think one of us has to pick blacksmithing skill this can't be too healthy for him. " Diabel said as he brought a sheet from his own quarters and placed it on Kirito.

" What? I don't want our leader to catch a cold. " The rest of the guild had a hard time not laughing at his face. It was as red as a tomatoe when they left to get their gear only to find that Lizbeth too went to sleep in her room after placing the message on the guild board.

As the guild took off their old gear and gave it Agil for him to sell, they again were amazed how good the new gear was. "One of these days I think we should by them both a couple of gifts for all the work they put in making gear for us." Asuna's comment earned her the complete agreement from the rest of the guild.

It was when Agil went and looked at the log for the guild funds that he nearly shouted from sheer shock. The guild had several million in coins that the day before. He took some time to calm down and went to the Plaza. That is where he heard that an archer had won a fortune.

Agil asked the player to tell him the details of that rumor. He nearly fainted when he heard that someone had cleared the invincible monster field challenge. The thing that surprised him was that they knew it was someone in the Black Hawks Guild and that the person was an archer, who had all the other archers in Aincrad green with envy.

Agil walked back to the guild headquarters and promptly fainted as soon as he got done telling them what he just learned. Asuna just looked at Kirito and began walking towards the exit and just saying that it was no wonder that he was so tired.

Kirito woke up to find three of his friends waiting to ask him why didn't he mention that he cleared an entire field everyone thought it would be impossible to clear. "I ran out of components to make the weapons, so I went hunting it is not like you guys haven't done that yourselves. So I made the guild some extra cash big deal."

Kirito walked over to the mess hall to see if he could cook himself something to eat, for some strange reason he was really hungry. Kirito made the Aincrad equivalent to waffles. Little did he know that he actually invented the single most ordered breakfast item from npc and player owned dinners.

The royalties alone would be enough to buy the red castle on top of Aincrad. Kirito did not get a single coin from it, in fact the dinners decided to lower the cost of their food to all players in Aincrad to honor Kirito's culinary talent.

Asuna was having a pretty good time hunting lower level monsters till she saw Kirito killing higher level monster than what she was killing. "So Kirito do we hit the floor boss tomorrow? I mean you must still be tired after what you did last night." Kirito looked at her and smiled. "Nothing major actually I was wondering how do you like the sword. We hit the floor boss as planned. The new gear is finished and everyone leveled up enough."

Asuna looked at her rapier and told him she indeed liked it very much. Kirito told her he got the materials in the hunt he did the previous night. He walked towards the guild hall and could not be happier that his guild indeed liked their new gear, a sentiment he shared with Lizbeth as she got many thanks for the armor by several happy players. "To see that happy sure makes all that hard work worthwhile."


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

By the time the guild reached the fifth floor they had become so famous that only one other guild was as famous as them. It was the guild lead by the strongest player in Aincrad or so other players believed him to be. His name was Heathcliff and he was the leader of the Knights of the blood oath.

Kirito did not care to be praised he simply wanted to get the people from his guild strong enough, confident enough so that once they were outside of Aincrad they would not suffer mentally because of being there. He knew that rehab and getting back into a healthy lifestyle was going to be difficult enough, at least he would make sure they were healthy in their minds before all that physical rehab.

The guild so far stood at 15 players and as fate would have it two of them became apprentices to Kirito and Lizbeth in the Forge. It seems someone actually looked up the identities of a set of armor and a mace Agil sold in his shop. It was items made by both Lizbeth and Kirito this made the two who were now their apprentices work so hard that they reached them on their own.

The blacksmithing was done by four people and since then Kirito was able to used his assigned sleeping quarters but not without locking his bedroom. He even made an alarm system for it, nobody was going to sneak inside his room uninvited.

The fifth for was where the dynamic or the strategy for clearing floors changed a little. By that time two months had gone by and now Aincrad had several guilds that wanted to help clear boss rooms. The Knights of the blood oath decided to make an alliance. Several of the toughest guilds working together to clear boss rooms.

Kirito told them that floor bosses was not something they could joke about. This got the room quiet at the first meeting of the so called alliance. "It's only a game. There is no way it is true that if we die here we die IRL. There is no frigging way it is true. It would be suicide for the company that made the Nerve Gear and SAO."

Kirito was accompanied by Asuna to this meeting. He was angry when he heard the fool say that. "So you didn't bother to reading the entire user agreement did you? You didn't see the waiver of liability for physical or mental health did you? We signed that user agreement and we can't do squat at the company even if we make it out of here or die."

Kirito looked really angry so much his eyes changes color from their usual blue to a golden color. "As far as the dying part I know it is true. The man who made this place and told us is my biological father. I am the Son of Akihiko Kayaba. I know the man and I know he would not joke about something as serious as dying. Especially after how my mom died. "

Heathcliff was staring at Kirito and could not believe what he just heard. 'He knows the truth, he knows how his mother was murdered and how he was taken from me when he was just a baby boy. I shouldn't be so surprised I mean he is my kid after all.'

" Well Kirito what do you suggest?" Heathcliff asked him for his opinion. "I say we level till we can either afford new gear or make it ourselves. When the monsters of this floor seem like they are as easy to kill as breathing. When we have our new gear, then we hit the floor boss not before. I will not rush the boss only to have members of my guild die from being unprepared. "

Kirito surprised everyone present and some of them secretly agreed with him. This was not just a boy he was a guild master that truly cared for those he was leading. " I happen to agree with you. I know that if we rushed the floor boss we would win from a sheer numbers standpoint, but at least a dozen of our guild members would die."

The Black Hawks were to be the main scouting force in the Alliance. The Knights of the Blood Oath would be the main force of the Alliance and the Dragon Alliance would be the reinforcement and procurement of items and gear. Kirito left the meeting last since Heathcliff wanted to talk with him.

"So you are the Son of Akihiko Kayaba, I guess you are not happy the way your old man made this world are you? " Kirito looked at Heathcliff and he sat down on a nearby chair." Actually the only thing I have a problem with is the killing off players. I actually love Aincrad, ever since the Beta I felt more alive here than I did back IRL. If dear old dad had not made it into a death game I would have no problem with our present situation. "

The room began to glow blood red and it concentrated on a wall. The second wall became the image of a blood-red colored monitor. In the screen a man appeared and it was the same man from floor one.

" There is no life without death Kazuto. You should know that better than anyone. You founded the laughing coffins guild with your friend. You have heard what they have been up to lately. We both got blood on our hands, we can't remain innocent after that. " Kirito looked at the image and he got up from his seat.

" Don't you dare tell me that, that is not the guild I made damn it. I made a band of knights that protect the weak and helpless not butcher them like they are cattle. Don't you dare say that band of killers is the guild my friend and I made. IF IT IS THEM THIS DEATH GAME MADE THEM GO COMPLETELY NUTS. "

The image disappeared as the previous time Kayaba had appeared on the first floor." That's right dad, run away to avoid accepting your fault. But when I get to the throne room you will have no place to run away to and we will have this conversation again. I am actually looking forward to it. "

Kirito walked out of the meeting room too bad he did not stay to listen to what Heathcliff said after he left." So am I son, So am I. "

Kirito was in a bad mood for days and the fact was that the members of the alliance could and would spread the fact that he was the son of Akihiko Kayaba. In retrospect he wished he had kept that fact a secret but instead of making people angry with him they instead felt sympathy and almost pity for him. They never imagined that the fiend that trap them in the game would go as far as to trap his own son as well.

The fifth floor boss was defeated and it proved that the method of preparation that the Black Hawks had made was indeed better and offered lower chance of leading to the death of players. Some actually called the training method the Kirito method. Some other attributed the invention of such a training and preparation to his intelligence and others to the fact that he was the son of Akihiko Kayaba.

His guild hearing the rumors they asked him if his father ever shared with him potential secrets or secret routes to get to the castle top faster. "He did not share such information and he would not make such routes because they would give an unfair advantage. He made this world to be deadly to be sure, but essentially it is also fair."

Some of the guild still believed that since he was his son there was no way he would not share some information that he would only know. The members of the guild council however trusted that Kirito would not lie to then, he never had done so in the past and they believed if he did know something he would share it with them.

The sixth floor was much more difficult than the previous floors. Kirito that maybe the increase I difficulty was because very five floors was a sort of milestone in the difficulty to defeat the monsters of the castle. He even theorized that maybe it also meant that each floor as they got higher would also drop better components and items because the monster being defeated was much tougher than the previous floor.

The Alliance did not in fact share the fact that Kirito was the son of the man who trapped them in the killer game. Someone who was listening them in exposed the fact in hopes that this would enrage the other players enough to kill Kirito. He wished for Kirito's death almost to the point of being obsessed with the idea.

The person was someone who blamed Kirito for his failure at making other Betas easy marks for him getting free resources and failing his invitation mission to join laughing coffins. The man was petty and selfish to an extreme and his name was one Agil would not forget soon, he was the conman Kibaou that tried to con the betas on the meeting to defeat the first floor boss.

Kirito defeating the first floor boss made it impossible for Kibaou to complete his intended purpose. He was told that if he managed to make the others players not trust the Betas and their information, then he would be a welcome addition to laughing coffins.

He was even told if he managed to get the Betas to admit their guilt by making them pay some form of compensation the better. He would was promised that any money or items he obtained would be his as a reward for going beyond the initial mission objectives.

Kirito defeating the first floor with his guild made him fail the mission before he had any chance to accomplish it, thus he felt bitter if not foaming mad that he continued to blame Kirito for his failure as he told PoH. The knife wielder told him no excuse was valid, and if he did not wish to die he better forget ever hearing of their guild.

The floor provided the four blacksmiths with more than enough materials to build gear, in fact they provided so much in fact that they got done earlier than what they had anticipated. For the first time since they began doing their blacksmithing they had an unprecedented chance for them to go out and also train together. It would sure help them in their work in the Forge.

The small party had a great time of beating monsters together. The only bad thing was when a pathetic looking player kept showing up screaming obscenities at Kirito and run away when he was done. He wore gear that could only be called junk, it was not properly maintained or was so in disrepair that it was only the verge of breaking apart.

The fifth field was when Kirito had enough of his ambush insult tactics. "Why do you keep following us only to insult our leader and then always run away like a coward?" Kibao stopped for a second and looked at her. "You mean to tell me he never told you what guild he once belong to? You heard of the guild of murderers haven't you?"

Kirito's own apprentice looked at him and took his weapon in hand ready to challenge him to a duel for offending his master's honor. "What does that pack of killers have to do with our leader? Kirito is the very example of what a great leader should be." Kibao nearly fell on the ground because he was laughing so hard.

"You idiots, your ever so noble leader is none other than one of their founders. He and the current leader were both Betas and he and PoH made laughing coffins during the Beta. Why do you think he wears those heavy gloves for? I bet he has never removed them. I know what he is hiding under those gloves. All the members have the same tattoo on somewhere on their bodies. The emblem of their guild a smiling coffin with a skeleton arm sticking out. "

The had heard to watch out for players wearing such tattoo since they indeed were killers to watch out for. " Except that Laughing Coffins was an anti bully group we made. Back then if you killed a player he would be resurrected at the Iron Palace. But you wouldn't know that would you Kibao?" Kirito removed one of his gloves and indeed he had the same tattoo they heard of.

"I do not hide the fact that I was one of the people that formed the guild. I did not however kill a player in cold blood, not now or back in Beta. If anything I am very sad that the guild I help make has become the very thing it was made to combat. But the real question is what do you want and why are you bothering me? "

Kibao looked at him with a glare that spoke of immense rage." Because you and your little band of morons beat the first floor boss my life has gone down the proverbial toilet. I was going to be accepted into a good guild, where I could make a decent living. But you and your band of goody two shoes decided to clear the floor boss and I was rejected because I failed an invitation mission. "

Kirito still didn't see where the problem was." So you were banking on the chance of entering a guild and because of us you got rejected? So what? You want revenge against us because you failed an invitation mission."

" Let's face it you would have failed anyways. Instead of coming here to throw insults like some punk. You need to sit down and work out your priorities. If you did you would realize that you need to improve your skills and if they high enough someone would recruit you. From what you have said you are so self absorbed that working in a team is impossible for you. "

The three other people had not seen Kirito tear into someone and he did it with just words. Kibao looked more and more upset as he too realized that the things being said to him were in fact true." I want to fight you, and when I do they will realize that I am more powerful and skilled than you are. That guild will beg me to join them when I am done with you. "

Kirito looked board and waited for the challenge to appear, and sure enough it was an unlimited time and first blood challenge. He took out his sword and waited for the timer to countdown and the duel to start. Kibao again not thinking rushed Kirito a second before the timer reached zero. It was blatant cheating but it would not help him.

With a single circular slash he cut the two handed sword Kibao was using to pieces and the pieces hit him on his faces causing him to bleed pretty bad. He would have a few scars to remember the duel. Kirito was declared the winner. Kibao wanted another chance and that was when Lizbeth finally decided to say her opinion.

"Look loser you can duel him to till the farmer goes to check if his pigs learned to fly, he is level 99 and this is our chance to relax and enjoy a little hunting in a long while. So wise up and get a frigging clue. You will never defeat him and if you keep bugging us then you will be to tired to defend yourself and you will die becoming some monster's latest kill. "


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Sword Art Online, this is a fanfiction only.

The rest of the guild pretty much heard from the others as they told them how Kibao had told and pretty much ruined their relaxation time. "You should have seen Kirito lay into the guy and that was before the duel."

Klein and Asuna were speechless for different reasons. Klein was speechless because of his skill, and Asuna was because of the fact he was supposed to be one of the people that made the murderers only guild, laughing coffins.

It was as Lizbeth finished her story that she simply walked over to Kirito and point blank demanded to take his gloves off. Kirito had nothing to hide and indeed he did have the guild tattoo of the infamous guild. "Why don't you simply pay an NPC to remove it? Hell, I bet someone in this guild could take it off for free."

Kirito smiled as he put his gloves back on. "Asuna I have no reason to do that. I was quite proud of my guild during beta. This tattoo has a lot of meaning and holds many wonderful memories for me. I don't wear gloves to hide it. I wear gloves to protect it. This was the very first guild I had a hand in making. "

Asuna screamed that many others would consider him a killer, a murderer. They would see this as an excuse to try and kill him for his inventory or just money he carried with himself." They don't know the guild you made is different from they know about. They use the same emblem they will assume it is the same one. "

Kirito touched her shoulder and told her to relax. " Asuna you are making two major mistakes and you don't even realize it. First off self-defense is allowed in Aincrad and second is that the roster of all former and current members is supposed to be kept secret. If I know PoH Kibao will wish that he never mentioned that. "

True to his words Kibao indeed was wishing he had kept his mouth shut. The second the rumor reached the information brokers it spread like a wildfire. In the end even, PoH knew what was said about Kirito and who said it. He immediately put a contract on him and two red players volunteered to carry it out.

These two players had been the ones Kirito had mentored during the Beta and one in particular revered and remembered his time with him well and fondly. This one went under the name of Red eyes Xaxa and the other was Kirito's most accomplished student Johnny Black. "Kibao dared to sully the name of my mentor. I WILL HUNT HIM TO THE END OF THIS CASTLE IF I HAVE TO BUT THE BASTARD WILL NOT SURVIVE."

Kibao was currently evading the arrows of Xaxa and when he was not he was on the lookout for Johnny and his ambush tactics. To say that Kibao life had turned into a nightmare it was an understatement. Kibao had to switch from one floor to another on the daily basis just to evade the two killers on his trail.

One night he was cornered by the two killers. "So Kirito is that much of a coward that he will not fight me himself, he had to send two of his guild's killers after me. They call this bastard a hero to players but then he does something like this." that was the last straw.

Xaxa took out his weapon a long metal thing that had no edge and did not even look like a sword. "You bad mouthed Kirito and it earned you this few fun day of playing hide and go seek. Then when we finally show up to see if you have learned not to bad mouth our mentor you do this. Honestly, you must have a death wish or something." Johnny told him as Xaxa got closer to him.

"I didn't say anything that was not true. He is a member of that guild and thus he is a red player a killer of innocent people like you two. Why would I have to pay for exposing the lying bastard to everyone and saving their lives? " Xaxa looked at him with an almost homicidal glare. "Because unlike you, our mentor is too noble to come here and get rid of trash like you. He did PK during the Beta and I wouldn't as skilled if I did not train under him."

"However, he only attacked bullies and criminals. That was before this place became a death game it is now, though. If anything I can admire his resisting the urge I know I can't resist it as much as he can. This shows discipline and control I will forever envy him for. " Kibao did not understand what he was talking about.

He kept dodging Xaxa's attacks as the conversation continued." What urge are you talking about? The urge to wet your pants? " Xaxa took this as yet another insult to his mentor and took another chunk off Kibao's health as the cost of doing that. " I know what he feels, you can't be a red player as long as I have been and not know the urge to kill. It is one of our greatest joys and he had the highest body count as the Beta ended."

"I would have gone insane if I went as long as he did without killing. My brother cried for three whole days when we found out our mentor was not in the guild roster. You hurt him too when you began saying those things about our mentor. Make no mistake you are not escaping and you will not live at the end of this fight. "

Kibao's health bar was slowly going down and he didn't know why." If you are wondering why you're losing health and still manage to dodge most of my hits I will tell you why this blade is coated with a very nasty poison. There is no antidote and you been hit with it five times. I imagine you should be about ready to beg for your miserable life right about now. "

The health bar kept showing his health lowering at a steady rate." I can't die here I have to kill Kirito and prove that I am tougher than he is. I have to have my revenge for what he did to me. I will kill you get your items and use the antidote you carry to heal myself and then I will use the same poison to kill that worthless beater. "

" Too bad that you have even less hope of beating us. I am not as merciful was my brother. " Johnny Black cut this head off with his blade and watched as his remains broke into a millions of fragments of light." Why to give the moron a chance to repent Xaxa. You know he would never even figure it out. "

Johnny Black looked at his brother and smiled." You used a slow-acting version of the poison for him to beg forgiveness and repent his actions against our mentor. I know it and you know it, but a fool like him would never realize that you were giving a chance to reflect and repent on how he lived his life. Why would you make such an effort for someone like him? "

Xaxa smiled at his brother and as he walked away from the place he was heard saying that he did it because it is something their mentor would have done. " Honestly brother I can't figure you out sometimes. You defend him like you are in love with him sometimes. I guess that answers that question. I was not the only one sad that he was not there when we made it back into our guild hall."

The two went to report the loudmouth fool had been dealt with and it was not hard to see that their guild leader was happy to hear it. PoH would have also been happy to fight alongside his old friend again, but it was plain to see that nobody got everything they wanted all the time. It was just a matter of hopeful wishes being broken into a million pieces by reality.

Kirito continued his blacksmithing the next day and he kept on working on something that looked strange for some reason. It was an item nobody would ever consider making. It was a bracelet that would work as a reusable teleportation crystal. The bracelet so far would only get him as far as a city on their current floor.

"This is not good enough. I need to improve the range if this thing is ever going to be of any use. " Kirito kept working on it and it was something that was important to him, so much so he did not notice the other blacksmiths looking at him." Maybe we can help you work on the kinks if you told us the problem. "

Kirito looked at Lizbeth and told the other blacksmiths to listen what he was trying to make. The people hearing what he was trying to do called it impossible." If this could be done there would already exist an item somewhere in the world. " Lizbeth kicked the player on his leg for saying that.

" No it is alright, I been working on this for so long I sometimes do feel it is impossible. There is also the possibility that an item does exist but it could be an item drop from a much higher floor boss or a special monster for special occasions or an event. "

" I can get it to teleport the problem is the range. I can only get it to teleport to cities on the current floor we are on, but I can't get it to reach the other floors. " That was when one of them said that maybe it was because the item was not linked to the regular teleportation gate. Maybe if he could link it to the gate have would have access to other floors."

Kirito had to agree that he didn't have a clue how he could link the bracelet to the gate. Lizbeth asked why to make the item in the first place. "Well, I figured the higher we got the more likely we will need a backup security measure. So this bracelet would be a way for our members to escape say an ambush with relative ease."

Lizbeth had to agree that the idea had merit. "So that is why. I guess as the guild leader you do tend to worry about the members in a different way than regular members. I still think that if we train like we are doing, we will eventually clear the last floor and be able to escape this death game."

That is when Asuna decided to step into this discussion. The fact is she was going to the Forge to get her rapier sharpen, but as she heard the discussion of a potential item being made to facilitate escaping an ambush she decided to participate. "Well, I think such an item is unnecessary. Our members are the best equipped and trained in the entire castle. I hardly think a few red players would cause them such trouble or be cause for concern."

Kirito looked at her with a cold serious look on his face and decided to make sure the issue was understood. "Asuna, would you be ready to kill a red player knowing that person would die in both worlds? Red players do not surrender easily and do not shy from using poisons and some other underhanded tactics to get what they want. If they kill some of our members they get everything in the victims item inventory which includes gear. "

" I suspect that as we go to the higher floors and make gear materials we get from monster drops. They will want to kill us either for the materials or the finished gear. We all carry several pieces of gear as backup equipment after all. " Asuna still believed that their guild members would be able to beat any red player." The question is not if they would be able to beat them Asuna, the question is would they be able to kill them? "

Asuna did not like that question at all. " To fight red players you need to be ready to get blood on your hands, I can kill every single one of them if attacked. Can you say the same thing about our other guild members? Can all of them handle the guilt of causing a person's death? This bracelet is simply giving a person who can't an option to save themselves both physically and emotionally. "

" You also do realize that making this item will be seen as giving our guild a handy dandy way to run with our tails between our legs. Some might even use it as a justification to ridiculing us. On the other hand, red players would target us more since such an item would be invaluable for them. They could kill someone or a group then escape without anyone knew who did the crime. "

Kirito had to agree with her view it was plausible and likely that it could happen to consider what he went through with Kibao during their last hunt." Ok, how about we do this instead we offer it to the general public, but we secretly make them usable only to green players. We could always use an extra source of cash flow. How does that sound Asuna? "

Asuna had to agree it sounded like a good idea as an alternative to crystals since they could sometimes be blocked by anti-crystal fields." So when we will have the first bracelet for testing, I am not putting a product out on sale without proper testing. " Lizbeth said as the argument between the two was coming to an end.

" As far as testing we need to figure a way to link this to the gate. If we could do that we already have one ready for testing. " Asuna looked at him and smiled." As for that, you should take a closer look at the platform where the gate is. There are runes liking one gate to the gate network. I imagine if we added those runes this thing would be a sort of portable gate. "

Kirito was not even done with making the final product and she was already thinking of ways to market the item. It was not hard to see that Asuna was going to be a great CEO for her family's company in her future. He also wondered if Akihiko Kayaba even knew he was in the castle at all. In the account registration his name was his adopted name after all, and not his birth name.


End file.
